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Residents upset about cleanup efforts at landfill // VIDEO, MAP

Published: Friday, July 19, 2013 at 08:24 PM.

Nearby residents said the machinery was brought in for what amounted to a “photo opportunity” with officials for the ceremony.

“They came in for one day, parked those tractors for a photo opportunity and haven’t done anything since,” Major said Wednesday. “And we know. Any time they go over there doing any work, we can hear it in our house.”

Construction crews could be seen on site Thursday.

DEP went with Phoenix Construction to haul and separate the trash. Phoenix agreed to do the work “in-kind” to cover fines it owes to DEP for its work on the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

Officially, Phoenix was given 75 days from the start date of June 19 to have the land cleared. The penalty for not meeting the Sept. 13 deadline, with good cause, would be a permit amendment, according to DEP spokeswoman Mara Burger.

“Progress has been slow due to weather conditions,” Burger said. “We have no indication Phoenix will not be able to complete the project by that date.”

However, a penalty for not finishing the project without cause is not specified in the contract, Burger said.

PANAMA CITY — A ceremony marking cleaup efforts of a local landfill could be responsible for a siege of pests and vermin alike upon neighboring residences.

Mountains of trash overlook the stretch of homes lining the Coyote Disposal Facility at 2101 E. Ninth St. A $680,000 project to clear the site was approved more than a month ago. State, county and city officials commemorated the progress with a day of removing debris, but nearby residents said the digging for the occasion unearthed insects, rodents and brought predators of both.

Residents have been complaining for years of various nuisances from the landfill, but Tony Major, a resident of the area since 1972, said it has never been quite like this. Major had large, upturned palmetto bugs covering his back porch, which faces the landfill.

“I can have you a bag of these by tomorrow morning,” he said. “This is every day. We get up in the morning and we pick these up. We are constantly spraying and that costs money.”

At night, Major said, a horde of rats emerge from the dump and roam the dimly lit streets.

Ramonda Moore-Brown, a resident for five years, said the pests aren’t just a costly nuisance to her five children, elderly mother and 3-month-old puppy; they also are a health and safety hazard.

“You can literally see them walking up and down the street at night,” she said. “As far as the kids going out and playing in the yard, that’s a no. There are rodents and snakes that come to get the rodents. Even the dog isn’t going out there.”

To try and keep the insects at bay, Moore-Brown has to spray pesticide constantly, she said. She has been paying about $200 a month for repellents, but she fears it could have a much greater cost.

“It’s a huge concern for me as a parent,” she said of the toxic chemicals, “and it’s unrealistic to think we can contain it.”

Background

Three government agencies collaborated in June with the goal of clearing the site deemed an environmental hazard and closed in August 2011. Coyote Land Co. operated the 19,300-cubic-yard dump, along with four others around the state, and was supposed to clear out all the waste after it was shut down. It didn’t happen.

Almost a year later, the county and the city each agreed to cover $50,000 of the cost to relocate the refuse. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) bore the rest of the $680,000 bill.

Nearby residents said the machinery was brought in for what amounted to a “photo opportunity” with officials for the ceremony.

“They came in for one day, parked those tractors for a photo opportunity and haven’t done anything since,” Major said Wednesday. “And we know. Any time they go over there doing any work, we can hear it in our house.”

Construction crews could be seen on site Thursday.

DEP went with Phoenix Construction to haul and separate the trash. Phoenix agreed to do the work “in-kind” to cover fines it owes to DEP for its work on the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

Officially, Phoenix was given 75 days from the start date of June 19 to have the land cleared. The penalty for not meeting the Sept. 13 deadline, with good cause, would be a permit amendment, according to DEP spokeswoman Mara Burger.

“Progress has been slow due to weather conditions,” Burger said. “We have no indication Phoenix will not be able to complete the project by that date.”

However, a penalty for not finishing the project without cause is not specified in the contract, Burger said.

James Finch, owner of Phoenix Construction, said the company received a start-date extension of two weeks from DEP due to rain delays on other projects.

“They said it’s been that way for years, so two more weeks wouldn’t be a problem,” Finch said. “If there are rats in there, they’re going to come out when you start digging. We can’t burn because the residents don’t want us to burn, so there isn’t a lot you can do.”

The company plans on having the cleanup in full swing by next week, Finch added.